The Story of Our Russian Snow Babies
----------Andrei & Ekaterina----------
This is the story of how God brought us two beautiful children and how he used people, events & things in our lives to lead us to Russia. We prayed for a family for 12 years. We went through medical testing, surgeries & treatments, but we came to a dead end and still had no family. We were at a point where we had decided to take a break & maybe give up on our longing for a family. Lorie had a client who mentioned that her kids were adopted from Russia. Adopting from Russia was something we had not heard of, but it greatly interested us.
That day Lorie went home & got on the internet & started investigating. We search many websites and found tons of information about agencies, organizations of families who had adopted, medical help sites and noted one site A Child Waits Foundation--one who helps those with financial assistance who are adopting. We though there might be a possibility we might need to ask for their assistance.
We chose the Frank Adoption Center as our agency. They use the Frank Foundation and we were impressed with all the information we received, on both of them. We also talked with several people who had used them and they were very happy with them.
The paperwork chase was on. We turned in our completed dossier in March of 1999. Near the end of May 1999 we had a referral for Andrei & Ekaterina. Andrei was 17 months old and he was in Kirov, Russia. Ekaterina was 9 months old and she was in Kotelnich, Russia in the Kirov region. We were told if we accepted we would travel the next week. WOW whirlwind! Well as it turned out we did not get all the information needed to make our decision, so we did not travel the next week.
We got more information on Andrei & a picture. We were also able to talk with the orphanage doctor. We sent all this information to Dr. Jenista for her evaluation. We were waiting for more information about Ekaterina and then we had a set back. Our agency called and told us Ekaterina would not be off the Russian registry until the end of August. They would send more information on her, but we would have to wait to get her until the first of September. We received more info on Ekaterina, a picture, and were able to get questions answered by her orphanage doctor. We also sent Ekaterina's info to Dr. Jenista for her evaluation. The agency offered for us to choose another girl, but Ekaterina had captured our hearts and we knew she was our daughter.
Next we had to make a bid decision. Andrei was available for us to get in July, but even after MUCH pleading, Ekaterina was still not available till the first of September. We decide to go get Andrei and be able to have him for seven weeks before we would go back and get Ekaterina. This turned out to be a great thing. We had our special time with Andrei.
The bid decision also led us to needing some financial assistance, because we had used all the resources we had and we would have extra expenses in making this second trip. We applied for assistance from A Child Waits Foundation and this enabled us to make the second trip.
Andrei was adopted on July 12, 1999 a day when we thought our heats would explode because of all the love we felt and excitement we had at becoming a family. Ekaterina was adopted on September 6, 1999 and this was a day when we felt our hearts grow bigger with love and joy at having completed our family. When we prayed for a family, we had no idea that God would send us over the ocean on a plane and then on a train to get our children. We thank God for allowing us the opportunity to care for and nurture these precious Russian Snow Babies. We daily give these kids back to Him because we know they are truly His.
Rand & Lorie Snowbarger
SNOWMANNKC@AOL.COM
Back to Happy Ending Main Page